Newspapers are considered a powerful medium for developing public opinion about issues. In a representative sample of large-city newspapers, we found that three issues—budget, expenditures, or taxes; housing or normalization; and treatment in institutions—were the most frequently featured issues about persons with disabilities. The least frequently mentioned issues were school related, such as instruction, mainstreaming, and Public Law 94–142 compliance. A suggestion was made that if articles about special education are to appear in newspapers, special educators must develop strong relationships with newspaper reporters and their editors.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AustinJ. (Eds.). (1986, 1987). The Times-Picayune: The Stales-Item. Wooster, OH: U. Microfilms.
2.
BiklenD. (1987). Framed: Print journalism's treatment of disability issues. In GartnerA. & JoeT. (Eds.), Images of the disabled, disabling images (pp. 79–95). New York: Praeger.
3.
BogartL. (1981). Press and public: Who reads what, when, where, and why in American newspapers. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
4.
DonaldsonJ. (1981). The visibility and image of handicapped people on television. Exceptional Children, 47, 413–416.
5.
ElliotT. R., & ByrdE. K. (1982). Media and disability. Rehabilitation Literature, 43, 348–355.
6.
EpsteinE. J. (1981). The selection of reality. In AbelE. (Ed.), What's news: The media in American society (pp. 119–132). San FranciscoInstitute for Contemporary Studies.
7.
HarrisK. H., & BaskinB. H. (1987). Evolution of disability characterization in young adult fiction. Educational Horizons, 65, 188–191.
8.
HolmesH. L.Jr. (Eds.). (1986, 1987). The New York Times index: A book of record. New York: New York Times Company.
9.
JulvezarJ. (Eds.). (1986a, 1987a). Chicago Tribune index. (Vols. 5, 6). Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.
10.
JulvezarJ. (Eds.). (1986b, 1987b). Los Angeles Times index. (Vols. 3, 4). Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.
11.
MacMillanD. L. (1982). Mental retardation in school and society (2nd ed.). Boston: Little, Brown.
12.
MargolisH., & ShapiroA. (1987). Countering negative images of disability in classical literature. English Journal, 75, (2), 18–22.
13.
National Easter Seal Society. (1981). Portraying persons with disabilities in print. Rehabilitation Literature, 42, 284–285.
14.
Research & Training Center on Independent Living. (1984). Guidelines for reporting and writing about people with disabilities. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas.
15.
SchindlerS. (Eds.). (1986, 1987). The official Washington Post index (Vols. 8, 9). Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications.
16.
SchulteH. F. (1983). Mass media as vehicles of education, persuasion, and opinion making in the Western world. In MartinL. J. & ChaudharyA. G. (Eds.), Comparative mass media systems (pp. 113–146). White Plains, NY: Longman.
17.
ThurerS. (1980). Disability and monstrosity: A look at literary distortions of handicapping conditions. Rehabilitation Literature, 41, 12–15.
